|
GHALIBIANA (a miscellany) |
Some anecdotes contained
in the commentary on verses: {5,1}, about a single
verse for which he would trade his whole divan |
| Another anecdote about language involving Mirza Sahib is famous. In Delhi, some people treat rath [cart] as feminine, and some as masculine. Someone asked Mirza Sahib, 'Your Excellency! Is 'cart' feminine, or masculine?' He said, 'My friend! When women are seated in the cart, then treat it as feminine, and when men are seated in it, then consider it masculine.' ==Urdu text: p. 28 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
[When the British retook
Delhi after the Rebellion of 1857, he was taken before a British officer
who asked him if he was a Muslim.] Mirza said, 'Half'. The Colonel said,
'What does that mean?' Mirza said, 'I drink wine; I don't eat pork'.
Having heard this, the Colonel began to laugh. ==Urdu text: p. 39 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
| [A scurrilous attack on Ghalib had been published.]
Someone said, 'Your Excellency! You haven't written any answer to it.'
Mirza said, 'If a donkey kicks you, then will you kick him back?' ==Urdu text: p. 49 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib ==Azad's version: Pritchett and Faruqi, p. 507 |
| [A Maulana came to visit,] and when he saw
Mirza playing chausar during the month of Ramzan he said, 'In the
Hadiths I've read that during the month of Ramzan, Satan is imprisoned,
but today I've begun to doubt the truth of that hadith.' Mirza
said, 'Your Worship! The hadith is entirely true, but you should
realize that the place where Satan is imprisoned is this very chamber.' ==Urdu text: p. 68 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
| One day during the mango season the late Bahadur
Shah was strolling with some companions [in a garden full of mangoes].
From time to time Mirza looked attentively at a mango. The king asked,
'Mirza, what are you looking at so attentively?' Mirza replied with folded
hands, 'My Lord and Guide, some poet has said that every fruit has written
on it the name of its destined eater and his ancestors. I'm looking to
see whether my and my ancestors' names are written on any of the fruit.'
The king smiled, and that same day caused a number of very fine mangoes
to be sent to Mirza. ==Urdu text: p. 70 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
In no way was Mirza's temperament ever satiated
with mangoes. People in the city sent them as gifts, he himself had them
brought from the market, mangoes came from distant places as presents,
but Mirza's soul was not satisfied. [One day some friends who were gathered
began to discuss mangoes]; each one was giving his opinion about what
virtues they ought to have. When they had all expressed their views, then
Maulana Fazl-e Haq said to Mirza, 'Give your opinion too.' Mirza said,
'My friend, in my view only two things are necessary in mangoes: they
should be sweet, and they should be numerous.' |
| One time, at night, he was lying on a cot,
looking at the sky. Seeing the apparent disorder and lack of arrangement
of the stars, he said, 'The task done out of self-will is usually done
in a disorderly way. Look at the stars-- how badly they're scattered around!
No order, no arrangement; neither pattern nor design. But the King has
the right over everything; no one can breathe a word.' ==Urdu text: pp. 72-73 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib ==Azad's version: Pritchett and Faruqi, p. 507 |
| One day the late Sayyid Sardar Mirza came in the
evening. After a little while, when he was preparing to leave, Mirza himself
with his own hands brought a candle over by the edge of the carpet, so
that he would have light for putting on his shoes. He said, 'Your Worship,
why have you taken the trouble? I would have put my shoes on by myself.'
Mirza said, 'I brought the candle not to show you your own shoes, but
for fear you might put on mine by mistake!' ==Urdu text: p. 73 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
| About wine, his witty remarks are very famous.
One person in his presence vigorously denounced wine, and said, 'The prayers
of wine-drinkers are not granted.' Mirza said, 'My friend, he who has
been vouchsafed wine-- what else does he need, that he would pray for?' ==Urdu text: p. 73 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
Mirza's wife, who was the
daughter of Alahi Bakhsh Khan Ma'ruf, was extremely pious and abstemious
and strictly devoted to prayer....so much so that wife's and husband's
eating and drinking utensils were kept separate. Nevertheless, the wife
never ceased to serve her husband and care for him. Mirza Sahab always
remained in the men's quarters, but his food and drink, etc., were arranged
within the house [by his wife]. As long as he had the strength to walk
and move about, Mirza always, at a fixed time, went daily to [his wife's
part of] the house. And he treated his wife and all her relatives extremely
well. |
| [Learning of a friend who had been widowed
twice and wished to marry again, Mirza wrote in a letter,] 'Hearing about
Umra'o Singh's situation, I feel compassion on his behalf, and envy on
my own. My God-- he is one whose fetters have been cut twice! And here
am I, who have had the hangman's noose around my neck for more than fifty
years-- and neither does the noose break, nor does the breath quite leave
my body!' ==Urdu text: p. 97 in Hali, Yadgar-e Ghalib |
Once in the winter, a parrot's cage was before
him. Because of the cold, the parrot sat with his head tucked under his
wing. Seeing this, Mirza said, 'Friend Parrot! You have neither wife nor
children-- why should you sit there with your head bowed, in such
a careworn state?' |
| One day Mirza's pupil and follower came and said, 'Your Excellency, today I went to the tomb of Amir Khusrau. By the tomb there's a khirni tree. I ate quite a number of its fruits. As soon as I had eaten them, it was as if the door of eloquence and rhetoric opened. Just see how eloquent I've become!' Mirza said, 'Aré my friend, why did you go six miles? Why don't you eat the berries from the pipal tree in my back courtyard? You would have obtained fourteen grades of illumination!' ==Azad: Pritchett and Faruqi, p. 507 |
To be continued... |
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